HC reserves ruling in Aman Kachroo bail cancellation case till

The HP HC
today reserved the judgment till July 28 on the bail for the 4
accused in the case relating to the ragging and death of MBBS
student Aman Kachroo after hearing the arguments of the
defence and the prosecution.

Shimla, July 26: The Himachal Pradesh High Court
today reserved the judgment till July 28 on the bail for the 4
accused in the case relating to the ragging and death of MBBS
student Aman Kachroo after hearing the arguments of the
defence and the prosecution.

Justice D.D. Sood had taken suo motu notice of the bail
granted to the accused Ajay Verma, Naveen Verma, Abhinav Verma
and Mukul Sharma by a fast track court at Dharamsala on April
17 last and asked them to explain why their bail should not be
cancelled.

The HC had summoned the accused to appear in the court on
July 24 but the case was adjourned for today as the defence
counsel had pleaded that time was too short as the notices
were received on the same day.

All the accused were charged with culpable homicide not
amounting to murder and remained in jail for 16 months before
the fast track court released them on bond of Rs 50,000.

Justifying the bail granted to the accused by the fast
track court, the counsel for the accused said "the accused
were granted bail after recording the statements of 26
witnesses and now only the statements of some doctors and
police personnel remained to be recorded".

He argued the witnesses were not likely to influenced by
the accused and as such the bail should not be cancelled.

He also pleaded that the death of Aman Kachroo might have
been caused by some heart problem and not due injuries
inflicted during ragging.

However, the Advocate General R.K.Bawa refuted the
contention of the defence and said the report of the post
mortem of Kachroo, conducted by a team of doctors at Indira
Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (in Shimla), ruled out the
possibility of any heart disease.

"Since the accused - Naveen, Abhinav and Mukul - are
already facing charges of rioting, criminal intimidation,
carrying weapons and trespassing, the order of bail suffers
from judicial impropriety and is illegality," he said.

The statements recorded so far have clearly linked
Kachru’s death to ragging, Bawa added.

Aman Kachroo, 19, a first year MBBS student of Dr
Rajindra Prasad Government Medical College in Tanda (Kangra)
died on March 8, 2009, a few hours after being thrashed by
four final-year students of the same college.

The fast track court had also issued a notice to the
accused on a plea filed by the government on cancellation of
bail but the proceedings had been stayed by HC since the case
was pending there.